We work with partner organizations worldwide to tackle critical problems in four program areas. Our Global Development Division works to help the world’s poorest people lift themselves out of hunger and poverty. Our Global Health Division aims to harness advances in science and technology to save lives in developing countries. Our United States Division works to improve U.S. high school and postsecondary education and support vulnerable children and families in Washington State. And our Global Policy & Advocacy Division seeks to build strategic relationships and promote policies that will help advance our work. Our approach to grantmaking in all four areas emphasizes collaboration, innovation, risk-taking, and, most importantly, results.

where we work

Rather than look at the challenges that people face by region we identify challenges that can be tackled on a global level. We work with partners that can help to affect change globally, and then scale solutions to a local level.

our global health division

Our Global Health Division aims to harness advances in science and technology to save lives in developing countries. We work with partners to deliver proven tools—including vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics—as well as discover pathbreaking new solutions
that are affordable and reliable. Equally important is innovation in how we bring health interventions to those who need them most. We invest heavily in vaccines to prevent infectious diseases—including HIV, polio, and malaria—and support the development of
integrated health solutions for family planning, nutrition, and maternal and child health.

More than 33 million people around the world are currently living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and more than 30 million people have died from HIV-related complications since the earliest cases were detected in the 1980s. Read Our HIV Strategy Overview

our global development division

Nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide live on less than US$2 a day, and more than 1 billion suffer from chronic hunger. For these people, the basics of food, water, shelter, and sanitation are in short supply, and healthcare and education can be unaffordable
luxuries. Our Global Development Division aims to identify and fund high-impact solutions that can help hundreds of millions of people lift themselves out of poverty and build better lives. We work closely with our partners to support innovative approaches
and expand existing ones so they reach the people who are most in need.

our u.s. program

In the United States, our primary focus is on ensuring that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and have an opportunity to earn a postsecondary degree with labor-market value. Our approach is to play a catalytic role—to support
the development of innovative solutions in education that are unlikely to be generated by institutions working alone and that can trigger change on a broader scale. We also work to address issues of social inequity and poverty in Washington State, where the
Gates family has lived for generations and the foundation makes its permanent home.

This strategy is to ensure that all low-income young adults have affordable access to a quality postsecondary education that is tailored to their individual needs and educational goals and leads to timely completion of a degree or certificate with labor-market value. Read Our Postsecondary Success Overview

our global policy & advocacy division

Because our resources alone are not enough to advance the causes we care about, we engage in advocacy efforts to promote public policies that advance our work, build strategic alliances with governments and the public and private sectors, and foster greater
public awareness of urgent global issues. Our Global Policy & Advocacy Program has teams dedicated to advocacy, policy analysis, and government relations, as well as strengthening philanthropic partnerships and the charitable sector in the United States and
overseas. In addition to the policy and advocacy staff at our Seattle headquarters and in Washington, D.C., we have a European and Middle East office based in London, and country offices in China, India, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Support for Bill Gates’ Report to the G20 on Financing for DevelopmentRead the Report

Vaccine Summit

His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and Bill Gates are co-hosting a vaccine summit in Abu Dhabi to continue momentum in the Decade of Vaccines. Learn more about the Vaccine Summit